Some Seasonal, Some Local, All Gourmet

BOO!!! (Weak right? Halloween was over a month ago). Just figured I'd pop back up again as we prepare to cruise on into 2010. I have a new job, in a new town, with a new home. Things are above average on lots of fronts, right down to my sweet one bedroom cottage a few miles from the coast on a sunny piece of land with a garden, chickens, and an apple tree. Color me lucky.

The eating hasn't been too bad either. There are very few places I'd rather be challenged to eat seasonally and locally. California's North Coast boasts an incredible variety of fruits, seafood, veggies, and dairy that can, thankfully, be easily foraged or found at a locally owned store.

My 'recently enjoyed' food list includes a multitude of items that have involved no money to acquire, that have come from my parents' garden or forest, friends, farmers (who leave us things at work in exchange for our coffee bags and chaff), and of course my own backyard. This list includes but is not limited to:
locally harvested sea salt, chantrelle mushrooms, apples, persimmons, lettuce, parsley, kale, onions, garlic, huckleberries, abalone, carrots, peppers, eggs, chard, beets, and squash.
Other featured items that have been purchased but come from less than 150 miles away include: great wine from the Anderson Valley, delicious bread from the Beaujolais or the Fort Bragg Bakery, local olive oil, butter, cheese, yogurt, potatoes.
During the summer both these lists were longer and included tomatoes, basil, rhubarb, plums, peas, blackberries, strawberries, blueberries, peaches, spinach, melons, lemon cucumbers, artichokes...In short, the quality of my food life here is outstanding.

One of the very few downsides to my new living situation is the mini-fridge in the galley kitchen. I prefer a well-stocked kitchen myself but space doesn't allow for a full sized fridge/freezer, greatly limiting my ability to keep a deep store of goods on hand. It has been an adjustment but I am getting used to thinking in advance about my meals. During one of my more challenging evenings when the fridge was on the barer side, I discovered that I had everything on hand to make oatmeal raisin cookies - I split the recipe and made dinner on four of the those tasty nuggets. The nice thing about living alone is that I didn't have to answer to anyone about that choice. Serenity in the home is a priceless thing.

There have been a number of kitchen triumphs as well. Most recently a pre-meditated meal of mushroom risotto and salad rendered thus:

Mushroom risotto: chantrelles, parsley, onions, garlic, and white wine of a local persuasion (rice from Argentina compliments of Lotus Foods).
Salad: mixed lettuces, apples, persimmon and carrots from my backyard or an otherwise nearby plot.

Winter time and the livin' is easy....